Tropic Thunder uses satire to highlight it’s most crude and controversial parts, topics including the Vietnam War, veterans, race, the mentally handicapped, homosexuality, Hollywood, and drug addiction. It is definitely a film that can be seen as completely offensive and idiotic, however if the viewer understands the stereotypes the movie is poking fun at, it is hilarious. Many people are outraged by this film because they don’t understand that it is satirical, and that the writers aren’t making fun of the topics themselves, but rather the cultural stereotypes that exist pertaining to them.
The opening scene is a ridiculous battle being shot for a movie within the movie, instead of this scene being a parody about the Vietnam War itself, it is about typical war movies. There is nothing funny about war as we know it in the real world, however through the use of grotesque visuals in this scene that are so overdone, it makes battle look comedic. The scene makes extreme violence look funny not only with it’s overflowing intestines and blood fountains, but also with it’s use of slow motion and dramatic musical score. Through these techniques the horror of war and death is forgotten, unlike in typical war films where there is just as much graphic death seen, but there is nothing funny about it.
The characters and the dialogue in the movie are also crucial for the battle scenes to stay light hearted. The group of guys are a pack full of stereotypical masculine roles, that could exist in a real war movie. There is Four Leaf (Ben Stiller) who is an egotistical testosterone filled hero, Sargent Osiris (Robert Downey Jr.) is the older father figure leader in charge of the unit, Motown (Brandon T. Jackson) is the badass young black guy, Fats (Jack Black) is the clumsy white fat guy, and Brooklyn (Jay Baruchel) is the young, smart, and inexperienced kid. Just the names alone add a comedic effect, without their strong personalities to go along with them. They all use crude profanity and witty war slang that is so absurd, it is hard not to laugh because they use combinations of words that don’t even make sense. Then comes the stylistic and highly improbable situations, similar to Rambo. At one point, Sargent Osiris runs in the middle of open fire and shoots Vietnamese soldiers to the side from behind his back. Once he has saved Four Leaf and picks him up, Four Leaf prevents a bomb from hitting the helicopter by hitting it up in the air with his hands while still on Sargent Osiris’ back. Such situations would not happen in Saving Private Ryan, for example.
The horrors of war and use of satire is primarily simplified through the use of melodrama. Similar to older movies like The Birth of a Nation and The Little American, those movies were comedic because they were so overdone and melodramatic. Whether or not they were supposed to be funny for their time, they are now because acting has evolved over the decades into a different style. Tropic Thunder uses a similar melodramatic style which is funny, because it doesn’t meet today’s acting standards and comes off as cheesy.
Outside of the war theme, the movie also uses strong satire when referring to Hollywood. Everyone in the industry; the actors, agents, studio executives, directors, etc. are portrayed as pompous and greedy. The best example is Les Grossman (Tom Cruise), the studio executive producing the movie. He is the most extreme portrayal with his crude, angry, egotistical, and power hungry personality. The characters that are shown back in LA, reveal the truths about the culture of Hollywood and the corrupt things that go on there. When Ben Stiller’s real life character (Tugg Speedman) is taken hostage by Vietnamese drug lords, Grossman decides to not pay the ransom and use his death as a publicity stunt and make money off of him. He then offers Speedman’s agent Rick Peck (Matthew McConaugey) a G5 jet and money to not say anything about it. This shows just how much Hollywood is about money, and is the primary focus in the industry.
The article, The Best Humour is Satire, and There’s a Reason Why We Have So Little of it Today (Hunter) says, “Satire, in turn, depends upon the pricking of pretensions, showing up the high and mighty for the buffoons they truly are.” Tropic Thunder does a great job of doing just that, poking fun at both Hollywood and war movies themselves. The film also successfully mocks stereotypes we have in our culture about different groups of people. Although it does so in a less than politically correct fashion and has offended many people, that’s what makes it so comedic.
Sources:
Dargis, Manohla. "War May Be Hell, but Hollywood Is Even Worse." The New York Times 12 Aug. 2008: n. pag. NYTimes.com. The New York Times, 12 Aug. 2008. Web. 4 Sept. 2012. <http://movies.nytimes.com/2008/08/13/movies/13trop.html>.
Ebert, Roger. "Tropic Thunder." Chicago Sun Times 12 Aug. 2008: n. pag. Tropic Thunder. Chicago Sun Times, 12 Aug. 2008. Web. 04 Sept. 2012.
Hunter, Ian. "The Best Humour Is Satire, and There's a Reason Why We Have So Little of It Today." The Report News Magazine 29.21 (2002): n. pag. United Western Communications, 4 Nov. 2002. Web. 22 Aug. 2012.
Smith, Lynn. "The Joke Is On You." Los Angeles Times 15 Aug. 2008: n. pag. Latimes.com. Los Angeles Times, 15 Aug. 2008. Web. 04 Sept. 2012.
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